December liquor sale drops in Odisha

Cuttack: Revenue from liquor sale has considerably come down despite two major celebrations of Christmas and New Year in the past one month in Odisha, official sources said.

While revellers in the state guzzled liquor worth over Rs 50 crore in December 2011, in the corresponding month 2012 the sale of liquor had come down considerably and the sale proceeds might not touch Rs 40 crore, the sources said.

"Fall in liquor sale is attributed to some key factors like low spending capacity of people, slowdown in key sectors like mining and growing consciousness among people on health," an official of the state Beverages Corporation said.

Besides, he said, the recent incidents in New Delhi following the gangrape and death of a 23-year-old girl had dampened the celebration spirit and these had its effects on liquor sale.

Excise officials in Cuttack district said that never ever in past years, the sale of liquor in this particular period had been so dispiriting.

"Most of the retailers, who fail to lift their quota throughout the year, wait for the last fortnight of December to make up the losses. But the situation this year has left them depressed," said an excise official.

Out of some 150 liquor off shops in the district, only 117 were running currently and many of them were not able to lift their quota, sources said, adding that only a little over 3 lakh LPL of liquor were sold from these outlets, including that of five on shops and 41 bars serving liquor in different restaurants.

Similar was the situation in country spirit (CS) joints operating in the district where the consumption level has fallen heavily. Cuttack district has some 64 licensed CS joints and the sale proceeds from here too have not been encouraging, the sources said.